2008 Gold Medalists Win First in London

LONDON (July 29, 2012) – The U.S. men’s beach volleyball team Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers opened pool play at the 2012 Olympic Games on Sunday with a 21-15, 21-16 win in 40 minutes over Japan’s Kentaro Asahi and Katsuhiro Shiratori (seeded No. 23) at the Horse Guards Parade venue.

Dalhausser finished the match with 11 attacks, nine blocks and three aces along with four digs. Rogers was credited with 11 kills and 11 digs. Japan’s Kentaro Asahi led in attacks with 15 and his partner Katsuhiro Shiratori had 13 digs.

Dalhausser was impressed by the crowd, estimated at 10,639.

“The crowd is crazy. It sounds like they’re having a lot of fun,” Dalhausser said. “We’re definitely feeding off that energy a little bit.”

Rogers said the team’s first-match loss in Beijing played a part in the pre-match planning.

“We thought that way in terms of our preparation and attitude going out on the court,” Rogers said. “Coming out on the court and having fun, understanding that it’s the Olympics and we’re under pressure… Just go out and enjoy yourself and that’s kind of what we did.”

The teams were tied 9-9 in the first set when Dalhausser scored with a kill and two straight blocks to give his team a 12-9 lead that Japan never threatened.

Japan led the second set 4-3 at the side change, but served its next ball out of bounds and followed that with a hitting error. A Dalhausser ace gave the U.S. a 6-4 lead. Later, with the U.S. leading 7-6, Japan’s attack went out of bounds and Dalhausser scored with two straight blocks to put his team up 9-6. Japan never got closer than two points.

On Monday, the U.S. men’s beach volleyball team of Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Seam Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.) will return to the sand to play Poland’s No. 9 Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel at 9 p.m. local time (1 p.m. PT) in their second pool play match.